Cincinnati will speed demolition near schools, family zones

Cincinnati will be speeding up the demolition of condemned buildings within 1,000 feet of schools or areas with a large number of families with children.

Council Member P.G. Sittenfeld has been working with officials to make the change. He said in the past the city has demolished about 40 to 60 structures a year.

“Because of the settlement that the Atty. Gen. did and money the city can now access we’re going to be doing 10 times that, so 400 to 600 demolitions this year,” Sittenfeld said. “We’ll literally be doing about a decade worth of demolition in one year, which is why if we are going to do it let's get it right and make sure that we're not just taking down eyesores but keeping our population especially children as safe as possible.”

The city already has a map of these properties within one-thousand feet of schools buildings. It's working on a similar one for family dense zones and that work could be done in a couple of weeks.

Sittenfeld said the buildings are located all around the city.

“They're buildings on the demolition list in some of the most affluent neighborhoods in Cincinnati and there are buildings on the demolition list in some of the most hard off neighborhoods in Cincinnati,” Sittenfeld said. “So we'll be going everywhere. And again the real logic is where are there children, where are there schools, where are there areas of dense family populations.”

City inspectors will also be reviewing buildings near schools not on the city's demolition list to see if others should be included.